Two Sides of the Looking Glass
by Susurrous
Summary: Really, Alice would not go on a trip to China after telling off all those people and talking nonsense - she would be sent to a sanatorium. Such a place is where people who are as mad as a hatter belong, anyway. What was she but one more?
1. Prologue

**A/N: Just went to see the film, and must say that it was excellent. What annoyed me though was the unresolved tension between the Mad Hatter and Alice! I wanted her to give him a goodbye kiss on the cheek at least…and the ending. As aptly said by some soul on the Internet, "Alice would not go on a trip to China after telling off all those people and talking nonsense, she would sent to a _sanatorium_. She is only a young woman in Victorian England."**

**So, I wanted to write a story (or at least try to) where she does. It doesn't remain like that forever though, don't worry! **

**Disclaimer: I would be mad to think that I owned any part of Alice in Wonderland.**

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Prologue - or, "The difference between madness and insanity, according to Alice"

___"Madness is tonic and invigorating. It makes the sane more sane. The only ones who are unable to profit by it are the insane."__ - Henry Miller_  


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* * *

_

Tiptoeing down the silent hall, six-year old Alice Kingsleigh glanced about warily for any servants who could spoil her evening expedition. Making her way to her father's study, she pressed her ear against the closed door, eyes closing to focus her concentration on the flurried conversation presently going on inside.

Her mother's troubled voice rang out. "What is wrong with my daughter, doctor?"

After some silence, Alice heard a deep, resonant voice – a stranger - remark, "There was nothing physically wrong that I could find with her during the examination, Mrs. Kingsleigh. I can only suggest that these strange dreams of hers must stem from a disease in the brain, as my fellow colleagues would so put it. There has been much research done on the subject in these past few years. I must say though, that it is most unusual for the same dream to be dreamt again and again. The detail she gave me was nothing short of incredible."

"Is there anything we can do for her?" This was her father speaking. Alice pressed her ear closer to the wood. She heard some papers being shuffled, and a pen scratching down some words.

"Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for diseases of the brain; however, with proper nutrition and fresh air it seems that many of the insane are getting better. Nevertheless, if the condition persists, that would not help young Alice's future offers of marriage, I'm sure. I've written here the address of a fine institution in the country which has a high recovery rate and –"

Alice jumped as a loud crash sounded in the other room. "NO! I refuse to let my daughter be treated like a pauper lunatic! She may be six-years old, but she is a young lady of respectable class, and I refuse to tarnish her and the rest of my family's reputation by sending her to such a place!"

Silence followed her father's outburst. Alice shivered; she had not heard him yell like that for quite some time.

"Very well, Mr. Kingsleigh," Chairs were shuffled back; Alice leapt to her feet and just managed to scuttle around the corner before her parents and the doctor came out of the room. "Keep your daughter here for now, if you please. Remember – good nutrition and fresh air are essential if she is to recover. If the condition persists though, I strongly suggest you consider the other option."

As the adults' footsteps began fading away, Alice sank to the ground. Her eyes stared blankly at her knees, as though they were new additions to her body. She was still in the same position when her maid found her there ten minutes later.

"Young mistress! What are you doing out her so late?" Numbly, Alice let the fussing maid direct her to her bedroom and put her to bed, whispering an automatic, "Good night," as the maid closed the door.

For the next hour, Alice tossed and turned until she became hopelessly tangled with her sheets. Her mind was in turmoil and kept repeating the last words that she'd heard the doctor say:

_"…If the condition persists though, I strongly suggest you consider the other option…"_

She shivered; her father wouldn't let them take her away! She was probably mad, but still –

_"You are mad, completely bonkers. But let me tell you a secret – all the best people are."_

As her father's words of wisdom meandered through her memory, Alice seized onto them like a lifeline. She desperately needed to convince herself that these people were different from the pauper insane that were kept locked up.

_'Yes'_, she thought. _'The best people who are mad would know it's only a dream, but the pauper insane would believe it to be true. And I know that it is only a dream.'_

Smiling at the conclusion she'd reached, Alice smiled as her mind settled down to sleep. She was all right – she was mad, but of the class where the best people were likewise. As long as her father was there to protect her, she would be safe.

* * *

**A/N: Next chapter will start Alice's adventures in the present day. I hope you liked the prologue! Constructive criticism and other comments are much appreciated :)**

**Next chapter: "In which the rest of the company react to Alice's declarations."**


	2. Decision

**A/N: This takes place right after she does the futterwacken dance. Please remember, Lord Ascot does NOT hire her to go to China. **

**Disclaimer: Lewis Carroll has been dead for over 110 years. I am still alive. You do the math.**

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Chapter 1 - or, "In which the rest of the company react to Alice's declarations."

_I wait until the rain comes, so I don't have to cry alone._

* * *

As Alice Kingsleigh marched away from the veranda, leaving her intended, his parents, and her mother behind in shock, the throng of people who had come to see her being proposed to parted in stunned silence for the 19-year old. It took several moments after she disappeared around the bend for the excited whispering to begin. How scandalous! To think that Alice Kingsleigh went around not wearing stockings, even to her own engagement party!

The whispering finally brought the group at the front back to earth, who had been previously frozen like statues into silence. Hamish Ascot cleared his throat.

"Well. Could someone explain to me what just happened?"

Silence greeted his question. Margaret suddenly became extremely interested in a bird flying in the sky, while her mother, Helen Kingsleigh, continued to stare at her feet.

"I knew there was something funny about that child," Lady Ascot finally broke the silence. Her voice was not friendly. "She was going on and on about a white rabbit, of all creatures, in _my_ garden, of all gardens! And then she had the gall to run off, only to come back and reject _my son_ in front of all these distinguished guests! Really, Mrs. Kingsleigh, what is wrong with your daughter!"

The verbal blows seemed to finally wake Mrs. Kingsleigh from her stupor, and she raised her head to meet the other woman's icy stare. "Alice…is certainly an unusual child -"

"You can say that again," mumbled Hamish.

"- but my late husband – may he rest in peace – always said that she is simply more free-spirited than other young women her age."

"Free-spirited! Rubbish!" Lady Ascot's condescending tone dismissed disdainfully. "She's mad, that's what. The girl's gone completely insane!"

"That dance _was_ rather peculiar," Lord Ascot mused thoughtfully.

"Yes it was, indeed," Lady Ascot shot a side-long glance at her husband. "And did you see what was wearing under her skirt? Socks! What respectable girl does that nowadays?"

"With all due respect, Lady Ascot," Margaret had finally torn her eyes away from the sky, "my mother and I apologize most profusely for my sister's behaviour today, and while the conversation is most delightful, I'm afraid we must most humbly take our leave. Alice has probably reached the carriage by now, Mother."

"Yes, yes, of course." Mrs. Kingsleigh tipped her head to the stunned Ascots, "As the head of the Kingsleigh family, I must apologize to all of you for this unexpected turn of events. I hope this has not damaged the good relations between our families."

Lord Ascot stepped forward, his eyes kind in comparison to his wife, who stood behind him in outrage. "Please worry not, Mrs. Kingsleigh. Charles was too good of a friend for our family's relations to be damaged from one trivial failure. Although," he lowered his voice, "I must ask…if you have considered the possibility of finding a doctor for Alice?"

Mrs. Kingsleigh's eyes flashed. "I will give your suggestion much thought, Lord Ascot. However, I'm afraid that I have relied too much on your generous hospitality to stay any longer. Come, Margaret."

With a last, worried glance back at their hosts, Margaret and her husband hurried to catch up with her mother.

* * *

"I can't believe your impudence, Alice! What are we going to do with you now?"

Alice stared out of the window of the carriage, ears dulled to her mother's remarks. It had begun to rain outside, and she watched as a trickle of water made its way down the window, zigzagging around other drops that clung to the glass. She sighed.

"Alice, are you even listening to me? Alice!" Her mother's sharp voice jarred her out of her trance.

"I'm sorry, Mother. What did you say?"

Helen Kingsleigh sighed and sat back in her seat, disappointment in her eyes as she looked at her daughter. "Alice…I don't know what to do with you. You reject a perfectly suitable marriage proposal, and for what? Do you want to end up like Aunt Imogen?"

Alice chuckled, turning her eyes back to the changing scenery outside. "Well, I don't know, Mother. I certainly don't want to end up as a second Aunt Imogen, but becoming Hamish's wife would be a thousand times worse. Only a woman who's simply insane – or just desperate – would marry someone whose appearance is so unappealing."

"Alice!" Her mother was shocked. "I am ashamed of you. His family is closely connected to ours, and while he isn't the handsomest person around, he is a young man of a high class, and it is expected of a lady like yourself to -"

"But I wouldn't be happy with him, Mother." Alice's eyes were in a faraway land as she whispered, "I don't want to marry someone I don't love."

Helen Kingsleigh's eyes softened slightly. "My dear, happiness is a luxury that only the luckiest of ladies in this time and place can have." She reached out her hand to grasp her daughter's. "Destiny had decreed that you marry Hamish Ascot, Alice. You must simply bear with it."

Alice didn't respond. Sighing, Mrs. Kingsleigh slipped her hand from her daughter's and turned her head away. As the carriage rumbled along, the rain continued to gently fall. Although a pane of glass separated them, Alice swore she felt a drop silently make its way down her cheek.

* * *

"Really, Alice, that was quite audacious of you. But Hamish is quite an eyesore, I daresay! I wouldn't have wanted to marry him either."

Alice smiled as her sister ran a brush through her long golden tresses. Margaret would know how she felt. Growing up, the two sisters had shared many secrets together and had a close relationship, "like Jane and Elizabeth in _Pride and Prejudice_", Margaret had once remarked laughingly. Alice trusted Margaret like no other – she was one of the first people Alice had told about her adventures in Wonderland back when she was six. Tonight, her sister had even arranged to spend the night at their mother's house so they could have a "sisterly" talk. This time though, even she didn't know how her sister would react to her adventures this time round. Her mind was like a seesaw – on one side, her mind was coaxing her to spill everything to Margaret – her big sister would definitely understand how she felt; on the other, it was warning her that telling people about such fantasies at age 19 could lead to nothing but trouble.

Alice's mind was still undecided when her sister put down the brush on the table. She put her hands gently on Alice's shoulders. "Alice, dear?"

"Hmm? Yes, Margaret?"

Alice could feel her sister hesitating, choosing her next words carefully. "What happened today?"

Alice's heart plummeted like a stone. Even though her sister had deliberately phrased it as such an open ended question, Alice knew what she was getting at. In the next few moments, the side of her mind that told her to spill everything to her sister finally won the battle.

"Well…" Alice began hesitantly, "it's a long story." She turned to face her sister. "Remember those dreams I had back when I was six? Well, they weren't dreams. They were _real_."

For the next hour, Alice recounted her adventures down the rabbit hole. She talked about the talking, anthropomorphic creatures she met, the Mad Hatter, the feud between the Red and the White Queen, how she fought and slew the Jabberwocky, and how she used the Jabberwocky's blood to come home.

"The Mad Hatter was extremely…odd, but he was such a gentleman. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to come home," Alice said. "He asked me to stay, you know. But I couldn't. I had to come home to give my answer to Hamish, and I couldn't leave you and Mother."

Margaret had listened to all this patiently, digesting the information. "And do you love this Hatter man, Alice? Is that why you rejected Hamish?"

Alice was taken aback. "Love? The Mad Hatter? Well, I don't know – I mean," she cast her eyes down at the sheets, muttering, "Well, Hamish is ugly, to start. That was firmly established even before I fell down the rabbit hole. I don't know, Margaret. He's a dear friend, but I don't think he has such feelings for me."

Margaret sighed. She reached for the brush, and began to slowly brush her sister's hair, murmuring, "You're so sure he exists, Alice."

"Of course I'm sure!" Alice exclaimed. "He's as real as…as Lowell! As are the March Hare, the White Rabbit, the Dormouse, the Red Queen, and the White Queen! They all exist, Margaret! I can show you!"

Margaret laughed quietly. Putting the brush aside, she gave her sister a warm hug before making her way to the door. "Maybe tomorrow, Alice. For tonight, rest." She paused at the doorway, murmuring, "Tomorrow will be a long day for you, sister."

* * *

As the door shut with a click, Margaret turned to face her mother and the family doctor, a sad smile on her face. "You heard what she said."

Her mother squeezed her eyes shut to prevent the tears from leaking out, while the doctor let out a heavy sigh. "I told Charles years ago, but did he listen? No. And now it has come to this. She is obviously ill."

Grimly, Margaret asked, "How long would she have to remain...there?"

"It depends. For Alice, the hallucination seems so deep-set it's hard to tell - I would say six months, at least."

Mrs. Kingsleigh gave a soft gasp. "Six months?! But, our contract with the Ascots..."

"There's nothing that can be done, Mother," Margaret gently said. "She is dead set against marrying Hamish at the moment. Perhaps, once she is recovered, she will understand her situation better."

With this explanation, Mrs. Kingsleigh dissolved into silent sobs, as Margaret rubbed her shoulders soothingly. With the briskness of a professional, the doctor scooped down for his bag, and collected his coat from a waiting maid. "Well, it's getting late. I'll see the three of you at nine o'clock sharp, tomorrow morning - we have a long drive ahead of us. Goodnight, ladies."

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**A/N: You do know that you can submit an anonymous review, yes? **

**Next chapter: "At least it's a better alternative to marriage"**


	3. Betrayal

**A/N: A big thank you to all of you who reviewed and favourited! I sincerely appreciate your support! Please don't forget to leave a review on what you thought about this chapter - thank you!**

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**Chapter 2 - or, "At least, it's a better alternative to marriage"

_"Trust no one, tell your secrets to nobody and no one will ever betray you." - Anonymous_

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* * *

_"Good morning, miss!"

A sharp burst of sunlight flooded Alice's room as the maid pulled back the curtains. Alice groaned, turning over in her bed to avoid the bright light. "Give me five more minutes..."

The maid bustled about, putting out her missus' clothes for the day. "I'm sorry, miss, but Mrs. Kingsleigh has specifically requested for your early appearance at the breakfast table this morning. Both she and Mrs. Margaret rose quite early this morning and have already been out of the house and back."

With one eye squinted open, Alice peered at the ticking clock on her bedside. "How? It's only eight-thirty in the morning!" Sighing, she threw back the covers and swung her feet out of the bed, yawning. Her feet shuffled themselves to the long mirror on the wall, almost mechanically, and she peered at her reflection.

'Hmm. Just a small bruise on the right cheek, three Bandersnatch claw marks on the upper arm, and a small lump on the back of the head. Not bad as far as war injuries go,' she chuckled to herself. 'I wonder if anyone else got inj-'

Her expression quickly grew solemn as she stopped the thought in its tracks. She pressed her hands against her head, crouching, 'No, no. I can't think about them. I can't think about them. I can't tell my mother that I got these bruises from fighting the Jabberwocky – she'll think I'm lying. I'll have to think of a cover story quickly. I can't think about him, I can't think about –'

A slight touch on her shoulder jerked her back to reality. Alice whipped back around as the maid hastily drew her hand back, eyes fearful, "I'm sorry, miss. I-I just wanted to tell you that your clothes are on the bed." The maid fled from the room, leaving Alice on the ground slightly bewildered.

Turning back to the mirror, Alice sighed. "Well, that was a fantastic start to the day," she remarked matter-of-factly. "Now even the maids think I've gone round the bend. Maybe I should just complete the image by dying my hair orange and dancing the futterwacken at tea parties."

She laughed, imaging her mother's reaction should she see her daughter's golden hair dyed a bright gaudy orange, and dancing the futterwacken before the Ascots at a tea party. Tears of mirth began streaming down her eyes as she imagined Hamish's horrified reaction.

"Well, that would certainly be a foul-proof way to get out of a marriage with _him_. But," she remarked to her reflection soberly, "I suppose that would land me a sure place in the mental asylum, wouldn't it?"

She stared, mesmerized by her own reflection for a few seconds, contemplating the question.

"Well, it's all impossible, impossible thinking," she talked briskly to herself, as she got dressed. "Mother wouldn't do something like that. Besides, there's only one person in two worlds who can pull off the orange hair and the futterwacken, simultaneously. I would just look terribly ridiculous in that getup. Golden hair and waltzing suits _you_ just fine, Alice Kingsleigh."

* * *

Alice went downstairs to find her mother and sister sitting at the long dining table sipping cups of coffee and delicately nibbling on toast. The room was silent save the old grandfather clock in the corner, whose pendulum swung lazily from side to side as it marked the seconds.

"Good morning, Mother, Margaret," Alice said cheerfully as she sat down and helped herself to some bread on the table.

"Goodness gracious, child, what have you done to your face?" Her mother's eyes were fixed on the blue and purple bruise blooming on the side of Alice's cheek.

Put on the spot, Alice gave a nonchalant shrug. "I must have fallen out of bed and hit my face on the floor last night," she casually responded. She crossed her fingers behind her back, praying that her mother would just accept the explanation without inquiring any further.

"That is a terribly large bruise for just having fallen out of bed."

_Well, considering I was thrown onto a stone surface by a raging Jabberwocky, it could have been worse. But luckily, the armour I was wearing protected me from too much harm. _She contemplated voicing her thoughts, but decided that such a mad statement would not be welcome at the breakfast table.

Alice breathed a sigh of relief as her mother went back to reading the morning paper, letting silence reign once more. Alice nibbled silently on her toast, letting her eyes drift to the large window on the opposite side of the room. Outside, a thick grey blanket of clouds covered London, giving the city a dreary atmosphere. A faint din could be heard from Londoners going about their business in the early morning hours - Underland, with its forest, flowers, and lakes, seemed like a distant dream compared to this bustling metropolis. Suddenly a crow, soaring above the buildings of London, caught Alice's eye, and she watched as it flew out of her sight. A familiar song flooded her mind: "_Twinkle twinkle little bat, how I wonder where you're at: Up above the world you fly, like a tea tray in the sky-"_

Mrs. Kingsleigh put her cup down loudly on the saucer, clearing her throat and shaking Alice out of her reverie. "Alice, dear, we're going on a little visit today."

The singing abruptly stopped, as did the hand holding a piece of toast. Looking down at her lap, Alice casually asked, "May I inquire as to where, Mother? On second thought, if it's to the Ascots, please inform them that I am gravely ill in bed and will not be able to grace them with my presence today."

"As a matter of fact," Mrs. Kingsleigh eyed her younger daughter sternly, "we are going to visit your aunt Evangeline, who lives just outside London. Your sister and I thought we should all…get away from the city for a while and benefit from the fresh country air."

Alice breathed a small sigh of relief and continued to nonchalantly butter her toast. "I suppose that's all right then. Is Lowell coming with us?"

"No, he is not. He is staying here in London, tending to business."

"That 'business' probably involved frequent visits to members of the opposite sex," Alice muttered almost inaudibly. She knew that leaving him alone in London for any period of time without Margaret would lead to no good. "Anyways, how long are we going for, and when do we leave?"

"That," Margaret stood as she folded the morning paper up, "would be in forty minutes, since we asked the maid to wake you at eight and it took you nearly twenty minutes to show up at breakfast. I don't suppose you would have any bags packed for at least a week."

"A week?" Alice exclaimed. Devouring her piece of toast and washing it down with a glass of water, ignoring her mother's horrified expression at her unlady-like manners, Alice bolted out of the room and thundered up the stairs.

Margaret watched her younger sister go with sad eyes. "I hate lying to her, Mother."

Mrs. Kingsleigh continued to sip her coffee nonchalantly. "Yes, well, it's for her own good. You heard that strange song she was singing this morning – it's an obvious sign of her hallucinations."

"I suppose," Margaret sighed. "But, you know, Mother, wouldn't it be such a funny thing if _our_ cat could vanish and reappear in the blink of an eye?"

"It would certainly help him with catching mice," Mrs. Kingsleigh said thoughtfully. Mother and daughter exchanged looks, and burst out laughing at the thought of their lazy fat Puss actually succeeding in catching a mouse.

* * *

As usual in London, it was lightly raining as the carriage containing Alice, Margaret, and their mother rolled out from in front of the Kingsleigh home. Horse hooves clicked on the stone road as the driver carefully manoeuvred the carriage around throngs of middle-class people going to work in the morning. Alice, clad in a simple light blue dress that lacked both corset and stockings, glanced longingly at the breeches and loose shirts worn by the working men. How comfortable those clothes would be compared to the frilly pile of fabric she was wearing!

She fingered the pendant that sat at the nape of her throat – a gift from her mother. She had contemplated leaving it at home, but decided that she ought to try and get back in her mother's good books sometime or the other – wearing her gift might be a good start. It also gave her something to play with – a habit of hers whenever she was nervous. It was unladylike behaviour, of course, but Alice couldn't really care less.

"Sit still Alice!" Margaret shot her sister a sharp look. "It will be at least an hour until we get to Aunt Evangeline's, so there's no need to fidget."

"I'm sorry, sister." Alice replied. "It's just that..." she looked out at the bleak London scenery, "I think travelling this way is so boring. Anyone can travel by horse or carriage, but the absolute best way to travel is by hat, in my opinion." She chuckled.

Absolute silence greeted her unexpected declaration. Alice turned away from the window to find her mother and sister looking at her, not in absolute horror as she expected, but in simple resignation.

"What?" Alice asked, surprised, "I was just making a joke. Imagine though, what it would be like to be so small that you could travel on top of someone's head-!"

"Stop it, Alice!"

Alice whipped her head around, surprised – the rebuke came not from her mother, as she expected, but from Margaret. Her sister had her eyes tightly shut, and had clenched her hands into fists on her lap. Her breathing was forcibly even, as if she was trying to keep herself under control.

"Please Alice," Margaret opened her eyes, and Alice was shocked at the pain that radiated from them, "not now."

Silence descended in the carriage.

* * *

"Mother."

"Yes Alice?"

"Why does this scenery seem so unfamiliar? I've only been to Aunt Evangeline's once before, but I am pretty sure my memory would not have forgotten this long stretch of nearly identical trees." Alice gestured at the apple trees lining the road on either side of the carriage.

Mrs. Kingsleigh shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well, you see, Alice," she paused, "we aren't going to Aunt Evangeline's."

Alice jerked her head up sharply. "What? You lied to me?" She turned to the other passenger in the carriage, "Margaret? Is it true?"

Her sister's silence gave her the answer she needed.

"Then, where are we? Where are we going?" To say that Alice was getting worried would be like saying the March Hare had only a touch of madness in him. What if she was being taken to a summer home where Hamish was waiting for her, and she would be forced to marry him right there and then? What if her mother had finally had it with her, and married her off to some other fellow, who had even more unpleasant features than Hamish and a personality to go along with it?

Alice tried to reach for the door, but she was stopped by both her mother and sister, who forced her back down on the seat.

"Listen Alice," her mother spoke urgently now, "you are sick. But it's nothing a little stay in the country can't cure. However, since Aunt Evangeline has five children of her own to look after, the doctor had recommended to your sister and I that you stay here for a few months."

"…Here?" For a moment, Alice was confused, but she got her answer as the carriage cleared the last tree and came into a wide clearing.

"Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum…" Alice read the furnished white sign in horror. She turned towards her mother, face chalk white in shock. "You're throwing me in the lunatic house, aren't you?"

"Alice-"

"No! Don't 'Alice' me!" Alice slapped her mother's hand away, "If Father were alive, he wouldn't stand for such callous treatment of his daughter!"

Mrs. Kingsleigh flinched as though she had been struck.

"You have _no right_ to be putting me in her with these people! I am not mad! I just don't want to marry that ugly and insensitive blockhead! I don't _care_ if I marry to someone of a lower class – I would rather be with someone I _lov-!_"

Without warning, her mother slapped her across the face.

Margaret gasped. Alice, stunned into silence, held up a hand to her cheek, too shocked to even cry.

"You are sick, Alice! It's evident! Those dreams that have plagued you since childhood, your behaviour yesterday – it's all evidence that points to one thing!" Tears had gathered at the corners of her mother's eyes. "I thought that settling you down with a good man would help, but your little escapade yesterday just showed how much-"

"Escapade?" If possible, Alice had gone even whiter. "I was only gone for five minutes, going by this world's time. How do you know-"

In the next second, a sudden and obvious realization struck, and deep inside of her, Alice felt a small piece of her heart turn to dust.

"No…" Her sister's image was blurry behind a layer of tears, "Margaret, how could you tell her?"

Margaret turned her head away. "I'm sorry, Alice. It was for your own good."

Alice couldn't take it anymore. In the next second when the carriage lurched to a stop, she threw open the door. It was raining harder here in the country than it was in London, but Alice didn't care. The carriage had stopped in front of two large white doors, which Alice presumed marked the entrance to the asylum. As Alice threw herself out of the carriage, the doors flung open, and two men in white stepped out. Alice took one look at them and bolted in the opposite direction, following the carriage tracks down the long gravel road.

"Stop her!" Someone yelled. A whistle sounded, and suddenly, a pair of guards materialized on either side of Alice. The one on her right grabbed her arm.

"You're to come with me, young lady." The guard had a vice-like grip, and Alice winced in pain as the Bandersnatch wounds threatened to reopen under the pressure.

"No!" Alice screamed. The Bandersnatch scratches had given her an eccentric idea. She twisted in the guard's grip and clamped her teeth down on his hand with all her strength. The guard gave a yell and released her. But it was a momentary triumph – Alice turned to run, only to have the barrel of a gun thrust in her face.

"Don't move." The gun holder commanded. Alice whirled around, but she had been completely surrounded by a team of guards. She had a sense of déjà vu then, of all places – only this time, there would be no Bandersnatch to come save her.

The closest guards advanced on the girl. "Come on, now." Two of them grabbed her arms in a vice like grip. Alice kicked and struggled, but it was futile. Beyond the shoulders of the guards, she caught a glimpse of her mother and sister standing together a few meters away.

"Margaret!" Alice screamed, "You promised you would let me take you to Underland! I would have shown you that it was all real!"

"I made no such promise," her sister whispered, the words only just audible above the falling rain. "Besides, the rabbit hole is no more."

Of all the secrets revealed that day, this last one struck Alice like no other. She even stopped struggling; the shock had paralyzed every nerve in her body. "What do you mean, 'no more'?"

Alice felt the sharp prick of a needle pierce her skin, but she didn't care at this point – all of her senses had focused on catching her sister's next words.

"When we visited the Ascots this morning, Lady Ascot mentioned how one of their dogs had found a rabbit hole on their estate. You know how much she detests rabbits - the workers coming to fill it in were arriving just as we left. I'm sorry, Alice. But it's for your own good."

As the sedative raced through Alice's blood, clouding her mind and forcing her eyelids closed, the despair of never being able to return to Underland flooded every pore. Several colour images flashed beneath her eyelids – her first view of Underland...the Hatter hard at work on his hats...finding the Vorpol sword...the smile of the White Queen...the Hatter's pleading eyes as he begged her to stay.

"Hatter…" she whispered as the world around her faded to darkness, "Someone…save me, please."

* * *

**A/N: Poor Alice. But things start looking up for her in the next chapter!**

**A bit of history: Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum is a real place, located in Colney Hatch in what is now the London Borough of Barnet. It was in operation from 1851 to 1993. Apparently, it had the longest corridor in Britain, and hence, its name was synonymous among Londoners with any mental institution. I took some liberties with how it looks inside and outside though (seen in next chapter), and how far it was from the City of London. I chose this asylum over the others that were in Greater London during the Victorian Era because many of the others were built solely for the pauper lunatics, and I thought that as a lady of a high(er) class, Alice would be sent to the place with the best grounds and care.**

**Chapter 3, or, "A new yet familiar face"**


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